


Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Rash

by s0uthseapearl



Category: 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Wallace Stevens, Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Canon Era, Character Death, Gen, Inspired by Poetry, Pastiche, Rash Illness (Stand Still Stay Silent), Year 0 (Stand Still Stay Silent)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s0uthseapearl/pseuds/s0uthseapearl
Summary: But I know, too,That the Illness is involvedIn what I know.
Kudos: 7





	Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Rash

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Wallace Stevens’ [Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45236/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-blackbird).

**I**  
Among twenty sleeping train bunks,  
The only moving thing  
Was the arm of a giant.

 **II**  
We were of many minds,  
As a troll  
In which there are many souls.

 **III**  
The patient thrashed in the sterile sheets.  
She was a small part of the pandemic.

 **IV**  
A man and a woman   
Are one.  
A man and a woman and the Illness  
Are one.

 **V**  
I do not know which to prefer,  
The crackle of igniters  
Or the blazing of infernos,  
The fuses hissing  
Or just after.

 **VI**  
Tendrils filled the dream-land  
With violent claws.  
The shades of abandoned Danes  
Crossed it, to and fro.  
The owl  
Tore through the specters  
And their maleficent rage.

 **VII**  
O mages of Saimaa,  
Why do you imagine golden breads?  
Do you not see how the dread one  
Walks ‘round with the shape  
Of a friend among you?

 **VIII**  
I know runos and staves  
And lucid, inescapable dreams;  
But I know, too,  
That the Illness is involved  
In what I know.

 **IX**  
As the legion loomed into sight,  
The mage marked the edge  
With one of many fire-runes.

 **X**  
At the sight of beast-ghosts  
Alight in Eagle-fire,  
Even men of impiety  
Would cry out sharply.

 **XI**  
She drove over Denmark  
In a van cored.  
Soon, a fear pierced her,  
In that she mistook  
The shadow of troll-thought  
For her own.

 **XII**  
Vejle Fjord is roiling.  
The Swan must be diving.

 **XIII**  
It was winter all spring.  
It was raining  
And it was going to rain.  
The brother walked  
Into the Silent wood.


End file.
